Taxes. Bills. Work. Assignments. Most people have put off something sometime or another. Avoidances seems to be a part of human nature, and thanks to social media like Twitter and Facebook, it's getting a whole lot more difficult to stay focused, with research showing that more than a quarter of all adults have problems with procrastination.
“Because procrastinators compromise their well-being in many ways, procrastination has serious consequences for health.” - Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen, in Procrastination.
A mix of biological, emotional and experiential factors, experts say that procrastination can stem from poor self-confidence, a lack of self-esteem or even a fear of failure. According to Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen, authors of Procrastination, procrastinators often associate negative feelings with tasks they don't like and avoid them to dodge their depressed feelings.
Their advice - to avoid procrastinating, people should break projects into discrete steps and set short-term daily goals. Deadlines and goals should be adjusted if objectives can't be reached in a timely manner and people should routinely reward themselves as they proceed from step to step. Say Burka and Yuen, there's never a “perfect” time to do something. It's a matter of “just do it”.
In Procrastination, psychologists Burka and Yuen outline the reasons and roots of procrastination. More importantly, they show readers how to fix the vexing, life-sapping procrastination problem. Anyone who has problems with putting things off will be well advised to read this abstract. Now would be fine.
Book extract
Procrastination isn't a laziness issue
One in four adults tend to put things off until “tomorrow”. Usually it does not stem from laziness, irresponsibility or lack of discipline. It comes from fear, emotion, lack of self-esteem, perfectionism, catastrophic thinking and even poor upbringing. Life's challenges scare procrastinators, so they delay to shield themselves. This fear-generated thinking prevents them from moving ahead. Procrastination can involve unhelpful biological factors, including genetic inheritance, an inadequate sense of time or “wishful thinking”.
Many procrastinators have mistaken ideas, such as, “I have to be perfect”; “Everything I do should go easily”; “I must avoid being challenged”; “It's safer to do nothing than to take a risk and fail”; “If I do well this time, I must always do well”. Such all-or-nothing thinking constitutes the “Procrastinator's Code”.
People who fear life or are unsure of their abilities tend to avoid challenges by delaying them so that they don't have to deal with external - or internal - criticism if they don't succeed. After all, you can't mess up if you never try. Procrastinators are often perfectionists who cannot tolerate doing something wrong. They believe that if you fail at a task, you fail as a human being. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”, becomes “Nothing ventured, nothing failed.”
“Many people who procrastinate are apprehensive about being judged by others or by the critic who dwells within.” - Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen, in Procrastination.
Procrastination even creates its own convenient reasons for failure: “I started the project late, so I didn't have enough time for it. Therefore, my failure to complete it doesn't count.” Such thinking allows procrastinators to see themselves as capable individuals who just never have enough time to perform up to their potential (because they always put things off). And yet, they feel like failures when they are unable to complete projects on time or up to standards.
Procrastinators are motivated by another common, subtle and difficult to identify phobia - fear of achievement. This often manifests itself in these flawed mindsets:
“Competition” - When you compete (by doing something well and on time), you showcase your ambition. Avoid the spotlight.
“Commitment phobia” - If you proceed steadily toward your goal, you are liable to achieve it. What then? Are you sure this is what you really want?
“I'll turn into a workaholic” - “If I stop fooling around, I will always have to work hard. I don't want that.”
“Success is dangerous: Somebody always gets hurt” - Complete tasks on time and people may think you want to show off. So you lose. Or those who don't accomplish what you do feel bad about their efforts and may retaliate in some way against you. So you also lose. If you always lose when you win, why win at all?
“I don't deserve success” - “I was a rotten kid,” or “I am a bad adult. Therefore, I deserve to suffer by being late.”
“What if I'm too perfect?” - “I'll make people jealous if I do well. I don't want that.”
“We are more likely to pursue goals that are pleasurable and that we are likely to attain... and we will most likely procrastinate any tasks that are unpleasant in the present and offer recompense only in the distant future.” - Piers Steel, psychologist.
Procrastinators are often control freaks, who don't like to be pushed. They tend to dig in their heels like stubborn mules when people expect them to do something on time.
Anyone who has problems with putting things off will be well advised to read this abstract. Now would be fine.
Mandy de Waal, ITWeb contributor
Typical thinking: “The electric bill is late? Fine. I'll pay it when I'm good and ready.” Or, “My new client wants me to call her at 4pm. Who is she to dictate when I call her?” The procrastinator may respond unconsciously by just not calling until 4:15pm. Or, “I have asked my husband 10 times to clean out the garage, but he never does. I'm tired of begging him to do it.” The wife's unconscious response to this conflict may be to hang back and be tardy when she and her husband go out. Procrastinators often are late out of a need to express their autonomy.
Some procrastinators exhibit their independence in relationships, including their fear of “being too close or too far away”, by not accomplishing things on time. For example, some individuals find it difficult to function well unless they have close friends or family members immediately available for help at all times. Others cause trouble by procrastinating as an SOS to solicit assistance. Some people fear intimacy and connections. They procrastinate to keep others at a distance. For example, they are always late to meet friends because they worry that being on time will tie them too closely to other people. Procrastinators often don't work to establish healthy - indeed, essential - boundaries in their most intimate, important relationships.
The time enigma, neuroscience, emotions and upbringing
Even for philosophers and scientists, time is not concrete. Aristotle questioned if time even exists if people are not around to mark it. For Einstein, time was a muddle in which the past, present and future were mere illusions. Procrastinators have their own markedly different sense of time. Indeed, many procrastinators seem to regard clock time as beneath them. For some procrastinators, 7:00 sharp means 7:10 or 7:20 or even later. Many procrastinators engage in “future discounting”. For example, since small children won't need to go to college for many years, some parents don't consider it important to start saving now. However, since the big game is on TV this weekend, they feel compelled to run out and buy a giant-screen television. Procrastinators must work with time so that it works for them.
Procrastination has a neurological component. People who suffer from Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), chronic stress, sleep disorders or executive dysfunction (inability to co-ordinate thoughts and feelings with goal-directed actions) may also be procrastinators. The brain, an ever-changing biological entity, constantly builds new neural connections and disengages old ones. If you do something repeatedly (for example, if you are always late), the brain reorganises itself to make this neurological action your “default” behaviour. On the contrary, if you improve your tardiness, the brain will develop new neural pathways to establish punctuality as your default mode. For whatever reasons (some tracing back to childhood), many procrastinators associate painful emotions, negative thoughts or sad memories with certain tasks, so they put those chores off, even if they involve activities that most people would find pleasant and perfectly enjoyable.
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About the authors: Jane B Burka, PhD, and Lenora M Yuen, PhD, are psychologists who organised the first US procrastination treatment group at the University of California at Berkeley.
Procrastination - Why You Do It, What to Do About It
By Jane B Burka and Lenora M Yuen
Publisher: Da Capo Press, subsidiary of Perseus Books LLC
ISBN: 978-0738211701
No. pages: 272
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